Georgia, Greece cooperate to facilitate legalisation of illegal migrants

Georgia and Greece are cooperating to help Georgian immigrants illegally residing in Greece obtain legal status.

Greek Migration Minister Ioannis Mouzalas met with Georgian Ambassador Ioseb Nanobashvili to discuss the issue and agree on the development of a united, coordinated approach of the two countries towards the issue.

The parties agreed that Greece will help Georgia to properly interpret the 2014 Greek migration law and its amendments. A particular focus will be made on the articles of the law which enables foreign citizens, including Georgians, to reside legally in Greece.

Once the existing legislation is thoroughly studied, the parties will also introduce a new law to increase legal living opportunities for specific groups of Georgians in Greece. One of such groups could be those Georgians who are taking care of persons with disabilities in Greece.

The Georgian Embassy in Greece will cooperate with Georgian lawyers who live in Greece and have experience of working on the Greek legislation. Additionally, the Greek side will also assign a person responsible for legal issues who will be in charge of cooperating with the Georgian side.

Georgians are one of the largest immigrant groups residing in Greece. In fact, Greece is the second most-chosen destination (after Russia) for Georgian immigrants.

According to statistics from the Office of the State Minister of Georgia for Diaspora Issues and released by the non-governmental organisation Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) in 2015, about 250,000 Georgians reside in Greece, some of them legally and others illegally.